Assessing Workplace Perceptions of Military Veteran Compared to Nonveteran Employees

Qualitative methods were used to examine differences in workplace perceptions between military veteran and nonveteran employees at the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). Prior research using employee satisfaction survey data found veteran employees reported a stronger connection to the organizational mission yet were overall less satisfied than nonveteran employees. The authors examined the open-text comments from that same survey to determine whether veteran employees identified the reasons for their discontent and whether these were similar to nonveterans’ concerns. They found that in cases when veteran employees indicated dissatisfaction or concerns, favoritism/unfairness was an overarching theme in their comments, more so than for nonveterans. Pragmatically, given these findings, enhanced vocational strategies for veterans transitioning into civilian employment is one way to socialize them into the new requirements and thus improve veterans’ workplace perceptions. Another approach is to develop organizational leaders’ understanding of military skills and culture to enable a better use of veteran employees’ strengths at civilian jobs.</p

AN OVERVIEW OF THE GERMAN GEL PROPULSION TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM

Gelled fluids are homogeneous mixtures of a liquid and a gelling agent. They behave like a solid at rest in the tank but can be liquefied if a sufficiently high shear stress is applied upon injection into the combustion chamber. Gelled propellants are of interest for rocket and ramjet propulsion systems because of their inherent safety and performance benefits compared to pure storable liquids. Due to their non-Newtonian flow behavior, gelled propellants combine the advantages of liquid and solid propellants. Engines with gelled propellants can be throttled and restarted, similar to engines with liquid propellants. On the other hand, engines with gelled propellants have simple handling and storage characteristics and reduced sloshing. Gelled propellants spill not through leaks and have a reduced vapor pressure in comparison to their basic (Newtonian) fluid. In this respect gel propellant engines behave like solid-propellant motors. In the last two decades a growing interest in gelled propellants for rocket and ramjet propulsion applications has been observed worldwide. In Germany, within the German Gel Propulsion Technology Program (GGPT), which was started in 2001, necessary technologies to build a green gel propellant rocket engine are developed and its capabilities demonstrated by static tests and in 2009 two successful demonstration flights. Ongoing activities comprise development of next generation gelled propellants which combine relatively high ballistic performance with insensitivity and low environmental hazards, maturing technologies like thermal management and control as well as deepening the knowledge on the combustion chamber processes i.e. injection, atomization, evaporation and combustion. The paper gives an extensive overview on challenges, activities and findings obtained within the GGPT

Green gelled propellant highly throtteable rocket motor and gas generator technology: status and application

Work on gel propulsion began in Germany in 1999. The German Gel Propulsion Technology (GGPT) Program started in 2001 from a white sheet of paper, proposed by the DLR Institute of Space Propulsion, Bayern-Chemie (BC), and the Fraunhofer Institute of Chemical Technology. Aim of the first phase was to develop the technology needed to build a rocket motor burning gelled propellants and to demonstrate its operability by a free flight within significantly less than a decade. The research and development activities were guided by a suitable principal concept for a gelled propellant rocket motor (GRM). Based on theoretical considerations (regarding functional aspects) and experimental pre-tests (propellant development, gelation, rheology, spraying, ignition, and combustion), a motor concept was pre-selected and the motor developed. The identified requirements were proven in December 2009 by two successful demonstration flights. The achieved know-how from basic research and technology (R+T) development has been consolidated in an application-oriented way on component level up to motor development. Within this scope, also, the goal of an effective control of the thrust by throttling the propellant mass flow rate (PMFR) while maintaining an optimum combustion chamber (CC) pressure could be achieved. This publication describes briefly several major advances in the development of the gel propulsion technology in Germany from rheology to combustor development to the thrust and pressure controller of a GRM